The St. Paul Saints edged the Winnipeg Goldeyes 1-0 on Thursday night in Shaw Park in the opening game of their best-of-five American Association division series.

The visitors scored in the third inning when Breland Almadova got hit by a pitch. He advanced to second base on a wild pitch, moved to third on a groundout and came home on Ryan Cavan's sacrifice fly.

Mark Hamburger of the Saints allowed seven hits over eight scoreless innings. He struck out two and walked none.

The Goldeyes opened the ninth with two singles. But with one out and the bases loaded, closer Ryan Rodebaugh got a strikeout and a groundout.

Almadova not only scored the game's lone run but he also made a huge defensive play in right field in the bottom of the first, crashing into the wall to make a catch for the third out with two Winnipeg runners aboard.

U women's teams busy

Three nationally ranked Gophers women's teams will be in action Friday.

The No. 5 volleyball team (3-1) will play Louisville (4-2) at 3 p.m. in Chapel Hill, N.C., in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.

The No. 10 soccer team (5-1) will play at No. 2 Stanford (5-0) at 8 p.m.

And the No. 26 cross-country team will host the Oz Memorial at 6:30 p.m. at Les Bolstad Golf Course in Falcon Heights. Wisconsin, Drake and South Dakota State are the other teams competing. The men's race will follow at 7 p.m.

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